"McKeon saw no value in ABC's recent widely panned Facts of Life Reunion and was the sole cast holdout. At the time, a schedule conflict was her official excuse. Now she's willing to say more. 'I'm just not a fan of that kind of thing,' she admits. 'I would not watch it, so why would I be IN it? It's just never the same.'

McKeon did meet with the reunion's producers early on and offered to direct the movie. 'I suggested that Jo be dead and that everybody come to her funeral and we do something like The Big Chill,' she recalls. 'THAT would have interested me.' She had no takers. Still, McKeon insists she has nothing but fond memories of Facts and owes her career to the experience. But she wouldn't mind poking fun at it: 'If they wanted to do a parody of Facts on Saturday Night Live, I'd say Gimme that school uniform. I'd slap it on right now."

Nancy McKeon was set to do a cameo in the movie, but the events of September 11th made those plans impossible.

Final ratings for the movie were 11.5 million viewers, 7.1 rating, 11 share. It ranked #51 out of about 123 shows. The Growing Pains movie did 15.1 million viewers last year so it was down about 20% but I think ABC is still very happy with it. I think it was hurt most by the Bears/Bucs game that went down to the last play. The Boston/St. Louis area probably wasn't included as it ran early there.

The 'Peace on Earth' line was added (at the request of Charlotte Rae) after the September 11th attack.

All the outdoor scenes in Peekskill and the train station were shot as the World Trade Centers went down.

During the final half hour, they were number one in the ratings. This means more and more people came on board to watch and the ratings were affected by that football game that went down to the final play.

Kim Fields noticed the payphone was missing and improvised the missing payphone line for everybody.

What all happened in the end?

In the end, Blair found out Tad wasn't having an affair with another woman, they both decided to have children. After Blair sold Eastland, the new company decides to demolish the old cafeteria and build a new one. Natalie and Harper got ingaged. Tootie quit her talk show, Wake Up With Dorothy, to come back into the theater. She is also a co-owner of The Peekskill Playhouse. Dorothy is moving to New York City, and her daughter will be attending Eastland Academy.

So a reunion movie huh....

Yes, a reunion movie. The cast reportedly agreed to a pact at the taping of the final Facts of Life episode in March 1988 to never do a reunion movie unless one of them was on welfare; unfortunately, that all changed. The project grew out of a brainstorming session at ABC, which posted strong numbers last season for a ``Growing Pains'' reunion picture. The ``Facts of Life'' project went through a number of changes -- including a possible ``Big Chill''-esque tone at one point, with one of the girls dying -- before taking its current form. The original writers from The Facts of Life were said to not care, weren't around, or didn't want to be a part of it so the script was written by Max Enscoe and Annie deYoung with an assist by Kevin Hench and Heather Juergensen.
Taylor said the original ``Facts'' writers either ``didn't care, aren't around or didn't want to be a part of it.'' Instead, Max Enscoe and Annie deYoung wrote the script, with an assist by Kevin Hench (``Kiss My Act'') and Heather Juergensen.
``Max and Annie were true to their voices,'' Taylor said. ``They can tell you minutiae about the show, which is a little alarming, but they're also the reason why everyone got so excited.''
Taylor said everyone involved with the project watched countless episodes of ``Facts of Life'' to get into the spirit. The movie's scribes were then charged with trying to figure out where these characters would be now.

What is the plot or theme behind the movie???

The movie centered around Natalie, torn between two marriage proposals and she invites the girls back to Peekskill, New York to help her with the decision. ``We chose to do it as an old-fashioned romantic comedy,'' said Quinn Taylor, senior vice president of TV movies at ABC. ``The writers captured the voices of these women, which in any of these reunion movies is the hardest thing to do.''

When and Where did it to air on television???

The ``Facts of Life'' reunion aired November 18th, 2001 on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney, which Taylor hoped this will benefit from the picture's adult appeal. November is a period that the networks call "The Sweeps" - it is when they set the amount to charge for advertising and commercials and when they want their programs to get the best ratings.

Where and when did it filming???

Production began September 10th, 2001 in Toronto, Canada for the "Facts of Life Reunion." It was produced by Disney-owned Touchtone Television which bought the rights to remake "Facts" from Sony's Columbia TriStar TV for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Production ended around October 10th, 2001.

Natalie now serves as a behind-the-scenes producer at CNN.
Mrs. Garrett got married and moved away when Rae left the show in 1986, returns to the States via cruise ship, where she meets a new love interest (she apparently joined the Peace Corps and became a widow in the time since ``Facts'' left the air).
Tootie is a Hollywood-based talk show host and the single mother of a 10-year-old girl.
Blair owns Warner Enterprises, which includes a stable of hotels, and is married to Tad Warner without children.
Jo is still married to Rick and has a daughter Jamie. (Not Appearing)

Anything else???

The movie will included a number of inside jokes for ``Facts'' fans, including indirect references to Clooney and Molly Ringwald, who played a schoolmate during the show's freshman season. Taylor said the ``Facts'' stars all had input in the final script.

``They were all very articulate and thoughtful and cared about what their characters would do,'' Taylor said. ``Mindy and Charlotte, Lisa and then Kim all contributed greatly to where their characters would be.''

Disney-owned producer Touchstone Television, a sister company of ABC, bought the rights to remake ``Facts'' from Sony's Columbia TriStar TV. During the sitcom's 10-year run, 205 half-hour episodes were produced.

Other series reunion pictures may be in the works at ABC as well, Taylor said.
But ``just because it was a hit series doesn't mean it's viable or a good reunion show,'' he said. ``There have been a lot pitched here that we have passed on.''
Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, who's helming the upcoming indie feature ``Kissing Jessica Stein,'' directed also.